The Bloodlust Chronicles: Stop Belly Aching
by StormesJay
Summary: When Chase vomits blood and collapses, the race is on to find what is causing his symptoms and save his life. While Cameron believes it's a virus, House thinks that something much worse could be at the root of the problem. Something that he can relate to.


Stop Belly Aching

By Stormes_Jay

WARNING: As literate as I may be, I am not a trained medical professional. If my diagnoses are off and a bit weird, please, bear with me.

* * *

It was a normal day. Just like any other day. He was sitting in his car, waiting for the light to change. It was mind numbing, but then again, it wasn't as mind numbing as having to sit through a staff meeting about sexual abuse. He was glad to just go home after all of that. He tapped his finger on the steering wheel, slowly drifting in thought. If he had to deal with another morality meeting because of Cameron's insecurities he'd go insane. He just barely noticed the sound of a heavy bass song bumping as it approached. He looked into his rear-view mirror, but it was too late to do anything. The car skidded and hit him hard, right in the trunk of his car. He flew forward in his seat, hitting his stomach against the steering wheel roughly. He flew back, his head swing back with the gravity of the situation. He paused, wincing and clutching his abdomen. He raised his head, looking in the mirror again. His vision was only a little blurry, nothing to make him worry about himself. The people in the car seemed fine, they were just more shocked at the fact that the front of their shiny mercedes was now crumpled. He looked forward again, then flopped his head back.

- Two Weeks Later -

Chase lifted his head from the pencil he held in his hand when he heard the hoarse voice calling his name, "Chase, any ideas from you?" House gave him a quizzical stare, as he often did.

He paused, shaking his head an raising his eyebrows, "Ah, it could be caused by lupus. That would explain all of her symptoms."

House spent a short moment thinking, then shook his head, "No. No, that wouldn't explain the-..." He looked at Chase closer, "... You're in pain, aren't you?"

"What?" A rather quick response as he pulled his hand off of his stomach. Cameron looked over with a hint of worry, unlike Foreman, who just stared.

"You're wincing, and your breathing's fluctuating. You're in pain." He tilted his head and narrowed his eyes, "A lot of it, too."

Chase sneered, "Am not." He perked a brow.

"I know what pain looks like, and that looks like pain." House walked over.

"I'm not in pain. I'm just a bit sore." He stood up, "We have bigger problems, like the patient who's dying in one of our beds." He quietly sighed, "Now I suggest that we do a full body MRI to see what's causing the bleeding."

House eyed Chase for a while, "... Fine. Do the MRI." He nodded and turned away, letting them walk out.

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Chase tried to relax in his seat while he watched the MRI, but found it more difficult than he thought. House had guessed right, he was in a lot of pain. It was like there was a bat being constantly slammed into his stomach. It had felt this way since he woke up this morning, just before hurling into the toilet. He found himself readjusting in his seat and letting out small sighs. Cameron stared blankly before working up the nerve to speak, "Chase, it obvious. What's hurting?"

"I'm not in pain." Chase said plainly, "Now, can we focus on our work?"

"Chase-"

"I'm fine." he said slowly, then pushed the button on the microphone, "Alright, Nancy. The scan is done. We'll be down in a sec." He looked back at Cameron, letting the button go, "Let's focus on our patient." He slowly got up. Cameron began to relax a bit more. A jolt of pain shot all over his abdomen. He hunched over, placing his hand on the glass window and clutching his stomach with the other.

"Chase?" She looked over and started to get up.

"Oh, God.." He winced as he felt something come up. He gagged before throwing up. Cameron ran to his side and clutched his shoulder.

"Chase! Hey, Chase!" She tried to help him stand. His knees buckled as he legs gave from under him. He fell limply to the ground, making an audible thump that the patient could hear.

"Hey, is there something going on in there?" Nancy asked curiously, "Hello?" That was all Chase heard before passing out.

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He opened his eyes slowly, wincing at the florescent light above him. His vision slowly focused, clearing his view of House's face. He blinked, "Where...?"

"This is new for you, isn't it?" House gave a smug smirk.

Chase's eye surveyed where he was. It looked like a hospital room, but more importantly, a room in Diagnostic Medicine, "... What about the patient?"

"Pfft." House blew out some air, "Diagnostically boring. You were right. It's lupus. You, however, are much more interesting~." Chase furrowed his brow, "Severe abdominal pain and nausea can mean a lot of things. Unfortunately, none of them are good." He seemed like he always did, almost happy to tell a patient their life was in danger.

He rolled his eyes, "It's a stomach flu."

"That explains the nausea, not the pain." House strode around to the end of his bed, "That, and the fact that you threw up specs of blood."

"What could cause severe abdominal pain and blood in the vomit? House capped his dry-erase marker and turned back to his now two-person team.

Cameron sat up in her chair a bit, "It could be a virus, Yellow Fever, Meningitis, Marbug Virus..."

Foreman shook his head, "There were only specs of blood, it wasn't filled with it."

"Yeah, but those could be the early stages of those viruses." Cameron debated back.

"I think it's a peptic ulcer. That would explain the pain, the nausea, and the blood."

House twirled his can as he thought, "If there's a possibility of meningitis, we need to do an LP first. If it comes up negative, do an ultrasound to check for ulcers."

Chase rolled onto his side and curled into a fetal position as directed. He had done this on so many other people before, and now it was about to be preformed on him. He felt the cool iodine sponge rub against his skin, preparing the area, "You probably already know this is gonna hurt." He heard from Foreman, "Not too much, though. Just focus on something in the room." Chase chose his monitor. He focused on the pulsing lines and the beeping the most. It still didn't distract him from the sensation of the needle slipping between his vertebrae. It was like a numb pain, not a stinging one.

"... Damn." He heard Cameron, "It's negative."

"On to an ultrasound." Foreman said as he wiped the iodine off and dressed the wound. Chase kept silent, he didn't have anything to say, really. They helped him roll onto his back, then gently lifted his shirt. The gel they put on was even colder, probably because of his fever. He felt the monitor touch his skin and rub along. It hurt just a bit, but was more of a sore pain. He looked to the side, peering at the black and white screen showing a fuzzy view of his organs. He didn't make an expression other than his lips breaking away from each other when he saw it, followed by a gulp. Foreman and Cameron paused as they looked.

House looked over the MRI that had been taken after the results of the ultrasound, "It's... a mass." he said dryly as he turned.

"It's cancer." Foreman replied quickly, lowering his head.

"We don't know that. We need to do a biopsy, see what's going on." Cameron protested as she turned away from the MRI scan to look at Foreman. House gave a small sigh, looking at the images on the luminescent screens, "Doctor House?" He perked a brow and looked over his shoulder at Cameron, "Any ideas?"

"Yes. It's not a tumor. It's inflammed tissue. It's just become so bloated that it's appearing that way."

Foreman stiffly shook his head, "No, if it were that way then it would be transparent."

"Of course it would, unless the flesh has formed together after injury." House paused, looking at both of them, "Either way, get Wilson to do a biopsy of the tissue, find out if it **is** cancer..."

"Can you feel this?" Wilson pressed against Chase's stomach, replied with a shake of his head, "Good." He reached back and took out the needle.

"It's cancer, isn't it?" Chase said tiredly, his throat dry.

Wilson shook his head, "Now, listen-"

"There's only one reason why House would send you to do the biopsy, and that was if he thought it was cancer." Chase's face looked more hopeless than usual, only accentuated by the dark circles growing under his eyes, "I spent all night last night on this bed, wondering what this could be... and it all came back to one thing... Cancer."

Wilson pushed in the needle, paying close attention to what he was doing, "House doesn't think it's cancer. He thinks it's inflammed tissue. Foreman thinks it's cancer." After a brief moment of silence, he pulled out the needle, "To tell you the truth, I don't think it's cancer." Chase shared a look with him for a moment, then nodded. Wilson looked over after capping the vile he placed the tissue in, noticing Chase's expression, "Robert, are you okay?"

Chase closed his eyes slowly, then opened them again, "I feel... sick." He bit his lip. Wilson nodded and helped him sit up as he reached for a basin. Before he could get it close enough, Chase let out a gag of blood, splattering over the blanket.

"Robert?" Wilson braced Chase as his head began to hang, "Chase!" The monitor began to make a flurry of tones, luring one nurse, Foreman, and Cameron. Wilson lowered him back onto the bed as he made it level. Chase was still conscious, just barely. His stomach was hurting so much he wanted to scream, but he was too tired to do anything. He wearily looked at Foreman's face.

"Chase, can you hear me?" He asked slowly.

"His heart rate's elevating." Cameron said in the background.

"Chase?" Foreman asked again.

Chase finally spoke, his voice hoarse and weak, "I.. I'm wet..."

Wilson furrowed his brow, then looked at Foreman, "Help me roll him over." Foreman took a hold of his shoulder, pulling him in his direction. Wilson took one look before shaking his head, "He's bleeding out of his rectum. Call Cuddy." Chase closed his eyes and drifted off.

"He stable, if not critical." Cuddy said steadily to Wilson and House, who were watching Cameron and Foreman setting up his IVs and monitoring wires, "The mass caused the bleeding, but he's gone into sepsis... This isn't cancer."

"It's not." Wilson said plainly. Cuddy looked over, somewhat surprised at the tone in his voice, "There was one thing I noticed when I did the biopsy." House looked over as well, "The smell. That mass is hollow. Tough and thick, but hollow."

House's eyes widened slightly as he looked into Chase's room again, "... It's volvulus... Caused by loss of blood flow. It was an infarction." He looked over again, then turned sharply and walked into the room, "Clear an OR room. He needs exploratory surgery, now."

He opened his eyes again, but this time he felt he was moving. He rolled his head over to look at Cameron, "... Cameron.."

She looked back at him, "Don't worry." she spoke softly, "You're going to be fine." Her lips curled a bit.

"You were right." Wilson said as he looked up from the microscope, "It's an infarction." He turned to House and stood, "House, the tissue is dead." House looked up to him. He didn't have one of his normal expressions on. This one was more worried, like he actually cared. Wilson lowered his head and put his hands on his hips, " Don't worry. The surgeons will take out all of the necroted tissue, and hopefully the sepsis won't have caused any damage to hsi liver or kidney." House didn't seem comforted. He looked to the side and let out a small sigh, "We're lucky, House." Wilson caught his attention again, "We caught this before it could kill him."

House looked to the side, "Let's hope you're right." He nodded a bit and walked to the door. Wilson spent a moment trying to understand what emotion House must have been feeling, but couldn't read it.

"... Did you know about his accident?" Wilson said suddenly, making House stop before leaving.

He turned back with a curious look, ".. No. I didn't." He furrowed his brow.

"He had a car accident about two weeks ago. He slammed his abodomen against the steering wheel. He seemed fine, so the doctors didn't run any tests." Wilson paused, "It wasn't your fault. It was theirs."

House looked down in thought, "... I don't think so." He closed the door behind him. Wilson let out a sigh as he watched House leave his sight.

Cameron watched closely as they worked on Chase's surgery. It was such a role switch. He used to be the one preforming the surgeries, but now he was the one on the bed with a slim tube down his throat helping him breathe. Foreman was a good surgeon, and was accompanied by two of the hospital's best. For some reason, though, she was still worried. She couldn't help but feel like something was about to go horribly wrong. His face was pale. So pale, it made him look like a corpse. The beeping monitors were the only things that convinced her he was still clung to her sleeve nervously as she watched helplessly from behind the glass wall separating the observation bay from the operation room.

House quietly stepped up next to her, "It's been three hours. You're still standing?" She was silent, "... Well.. Any news, then?"

"His kidneys and liver aren't damaged beyond healing, thank God, but they have to remove four feet of his intestine..." She said in a monotone, staring straight ahead.

House nodded as he looked out of the window and down at the surgery bay, "He'll lose weight, but he'll live."

"... Why didn't he tell us he was in pain? We could've avoided this. All of this.." She said. House knew she was holding back tears, but she was still good at hiding it. You can't hide that you have an itch on your ass from him.

He thought, then shrugged, "Because he's an ass that way, and you know it."

"How can you say that about him? Especially now?" She glared.

House smirked, "Because I knew you would react that way. You love him, and you don't want to admit it." He tilted his head, "You're ashamed of it, aren't you?"

Cameron gave a surprised look, "What? I am not in love with him." she said sternly, "And if I was, I wouldn't be ashamed of it." She looked back.

"The way you responded says the absolute opposite." House turned away, "Look, if you want to keep it a secret, I won't budge in. Like I'd want to know about your love life." He opened the door, "But if you don't love him, why do't you react that way to anyone else?" He closed the door before she could say a word. She huffed in frustration, then turned back to watch the surgery.

-Two Days Later-

The room had been dimmed, and the blinds had been shut. Everything was prepared in case he woke up, which was a good thing, because he was. His eyes just seemed to slowly drift open, blinking to clear his vision. He felt that he had had a tube down his throat, but it had been taken out. Now he just had a small tue resting under his nose. He was so tired, and so sore. Every cell in his body ached. He wearily gazed to the side, catching glimpse of Wilson, "... Wilson." he hoarsely called.

Wilson looked up from his book, his black framed reading glasses resting on the tip of his nose. He closed his book and turned to Chase, gently resting his hand on his arm, "Hey. How are you feeling?" He asked softly.

"Horrible.." Chase huffed a bit, making Wilson quietly laugh through his nose, "... What are you doing here?"

"I'm off today." Wilson smiled a bit, "Cameron and I have been taking turns sitting in here, waiting for you to wake up."

Chase nodded, barely noticeably, "What did I lose?"

Wilson recalled, "They took out four feet of your intestine. Your kidneys and liver are going to be just fine, and on personal request from Cameron, I'll be in charge of your post-op diet."

"Wonderful." Chase looked down with a smirk, "My throat's dry..." Wilson reached over to the nightstand and poured some water into a small cup, handing it to him once he was finished.

"The surgeons said it would've taken at least two weeks for things to get as bad as they did. Why didn't you tell us you were in pain?" Wilson placed a hand on his hip, "It must have been excrustiating."

Chase sipped his water a bit, then rested his head back against the pillow, "To tell you the truth, because I was afraid of all of this happening to me." Wilson looked at him directly, "All of the tests, the biopsies, the surgeries... I was afraid it would all happen to me one day. I guess you think I'm an idiot, huh?"

Wilson chuckled a bit and closed his eyes, "Chase, I'm not House. I think it was a logical thing to think. It's only to be expected that you wouldn't want all of this." He sat down again and patted Chase's arm, "In the future, though, tell us when you're not feeling right, and I promise we won't have to do all of the tests, biopsies, and surgeries." Chase was silent, but his face became more warm as he smiled.

--End--


End file.
